1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to easy open containers, and specifically to methods for fabricating metal pull tabs for such easy open containers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Containers with "easy open" pull tabs have become a convenience of every day American life. As a consequence, there is a huge demand for such containers, and the manufacturer of the metal pull tabs are only susceptible to high speed manufacturing techniques.
Typically, the metal pull tabs are fabricated using high speed metal stamping techniques from long strips of metal carrier sheets, with each pull tab being held to the carrier sheet by thin metal strips, or "lugs", which maintain the integrity of the metal sheet until each pull tab has undergone all of the metal forming steps. Thereafter, the lugs are severed to remove each pull tab from the carrier sheet.
As is described more fully below with respect to FIGS. 1 and 2, it is also customary to curl the periphery of the pull tab, so as to prevent sharp metal edges from being presented to the fingers of the end user of the container. Thus, the lugs are typically located forwardly of the pull tab during fabrication, at a point along the periphery of the pull tab is not curled. In the past, when the lugs are positioned along the uncurled forward peripheral portion of the pull tab, the severing of the lug often results in burrs along that forward periphery. After the pull tab is affixed to a container end, these burrs frequently score the lacquer finish on the container end, exposing the end to possible oxidation contamination.